Bond of blood
by Neumond
Summary: Harry and Draco travel back into the marauder era. Something bonds them together but what exactly? And how will the marauders react? After DH but before the epilogue. Later: HP/DM SB/RL


The two men walked through the forbidden forest in silence. They kept their heads between the shoulders as a protection of the rain but it did help little. Water dropped of their hair.

It trickled down their coats and into their collars. Their hands –which they used to carry their suit - cases where white because of the cold.

They didn't look at each other but sometimes one straightened his head and listened. Then the other one would stand still and they would wait for a few moments until the noise would be identified as the breathing of a bird, a whisper of the stars or the thunder of Centaurs galloping far away.

The last trees remained behind them and before their eyes there was Hogwarts. The Great Lake swallowed each moonlight beam which had found its way through the clouds and past the castles towers.

The only windows enlightened were the ones of the headmaster and the one of the hospital ward.

In the distance the houses of Hogsmeade cuddled together for protection.

You know, I don't think, we should do this.

Silence.

The wind strengthened and the trees bumped their branches together. The leaves seemed to cry. Leave. Leave.

It's not right.

There aren't much right things around. He started to go, his steps were firm and assured.

The other man hesitated, looked above to the sky, where the full moon showed himself between two clouds, bright and pale as he was.

Shit. He striked his hair out of his face and then started to follow. Shit.

*******************************Bond of blood****************************

It was hard to tell where Sirius' body started and James' ended, so tight they were pressed against each other. On top of that, they formed some strange kind of knot so James could feel Sirius' breath against his ankle while he couldn't move his legs for they were knotted with the arms of his friend.

You never grow out of some things, I suppose. , muttered Sirius quietly. He didn't mention the invisible cloak but James had started already to ask himself if it really had been the right decision to let Lilly have it just because she had spoken about 'childish hide and seek games'.

They had never tried before to help Remus without it. Peter didn't come with them on the first hand and they themselves had been hiding themselves in this cupboard for half of the night already, because of Filch.

James could see Mrs. Norris through a hole. She still stood in the entry hall and looked at the cupboard with her glistening eyes. Filch had to arrive every minute now. If they had used the map, they probably would have been able to see a little dot with his name above, which would creep through the alleys out of inky lines, a couple of teachers just behind him.

We cannot stay until tomorrow, Prangs. , whispered Sirius even quieter, when Mrs Norris moved her ears and looked directly their direction. I say, we give our very best to get to Moony in time. Let's try our chance. Let's hurry and on the way we kick that stupid excuse for a cat.

James had an answer in mind which would have caused a fight despite their situation but he forgot about them for the heavy gate of the entrance hall flew open. Both wings crashed against the wall. Mrs. Norris jumped two feet high and disappeared the next moment.

'Have that been the cat?' A man stepped into the light of the spare torches and looked in the direction, Mrs. Norris had taken on her flight. He was young, in his mid-twenties and there was something about him, which cried 'Slytherin! Slytherin!', just like he had a picture of Salazar painted on his forehead. He stroked through his white blond hair. Water wept down of it, like of his coat. 'We couldn't have whished for a nicer audience, could we? So many cozy, warm memories are linked with that creature…'

'After your dramatic performance we won't have to wait long for the rest of the castle.'

A second man entered, but stayed in the shadows. The wind came in, howling, together with rain. You could hear the lashing willow if you really wanted to. A wet smack every time it hit something. 'But who knows, there may be a rat somewhere in the dungeons which managed the feat to crawl into the walls deep enough to not get wakened by that!'

'In the past years I had to force open every second door I wanted to use. Call it a habit. Nevertheless, wouldn't a calm, inconspicuous entrance have been a little bit inadequate for this heart melting day?

'Draco, I warn you…'

'I'm serious. The great return of the famous…well…no, not at this place. Not now. But did you really have had the intention of sneaking yourself inside like a thief in a cloudy night? I don't think so.' The blond one laughed and cocked his head. 'I think, I may hear them coming already.'

As a point of fact you had no choice but to hear steps, storming towards them out of different directions. James tried to look Sirius in the eyes. 'We are not able to leave today, eh?', his look sayed. The friend just grinned. They very likely wouldn't leave now one way or the other.

A drained McGonnagall, a fierce Dumbledore and an excited Filch, carrying his jibbing cat, entered the hall via different entries. McGonagall was the only one wearing a nightgown or whatever she thought one.

All three of them kept their breath when they noticed the two men.

'Good evening.', said the blond and smiled at all of them, which stay calm. Looks were shared between McGonnagall and Dumbledore.

At least, the man who had been hidden until now closed the entrance gate with a wink of his wand, before he took his glasses and cleaned them. A torch was enlightening his face now. He too smiled and he lacked the calm irony which was there with his attendant all the time.

'We are sorry for the late annoyance. It hasn't been our plan to wake up somebody so roughly.'

He, too, didn't get an answer but the reason was possibly a different one.

Sirius gasped. James had become white, so much he could feel. His face felt cold and out of blood. The second stranger looked exactly like him.

Harry tried to smile to relax the situation but he perceived that it was a miserable failure.

Dumbledore, McGonnagall and Filch looked at him like he was a visitation or more like that. One Potter to much…

'I suppose you have Potter visiting this school?', asked Drace and used a spell to dry himself. He didn't bother to do the same thing for Harry.

'Indeed.' Dumbledore stroked his bearb. 'There is a resemblance which is…well…'

'Astonishing.', finished McGonnagall. The fact that she stood there with a pack of men, wearing a nightgown didn't seem to bother her. Her glasses appeared out of nothing and she put them on, never leaving Harry out of eyesight.

'Potter genes… no one knows how they have smuggled themselves into our family but my brother are the only one which got so out of line. That's why…' He didn't finish the sentence but let it hover and made a discarding gesture.

'Brothers?' Filch snorted.

'Unbelievable, I know. But the pets do get out of line more often, or so they tell.' His smile became a smirk.

'Eve.', said Harry and took shook Hands with McGonnagall and then Dumbledore. His hand he kept longer than necessary and looked him in the eye while he remembered white doves and the noises of their wings. It had been a white cloud which had taken his mind with it.

'I'm glad to meet you, Sir. It's an honor. I've heard a lot about you.'

'That's nice to hear but I'm afraid I do not quite understand yet why you are here.'

'That's something we're all dying to know.' McGonnagall crossed her arms. 'What led you here at this time of night? And how did you get through the barriers?'

'By foot.', answered Draco. His smile disappeared. 'About your first question, well, we need some kind of protection.' He lowered his look and rolled up his sleeve. The dark mark was there, big and ugly on his arm. Filch and McGonnagall yielded backwards while Dumbledores looks eclipsed. 'I need a second chance. We have something to pay, so to speak.'

McGonnagall and Filch stood still. It seemed they had forgotten how to speak.

Sirius could see how they swallowed. He didn't know himself how to react to this archetype of a slytherin with his dark mark and to his…brother….who would have been the spitting image of James, if it had not been for his eye. These eyes…there was something wrong with them but Sirius couldn't see them good enough to tell what it was.

The man started a crooked smile. 'I'm sorry.', he said and forced the sleeve of the blond one down again. Afterwards he clasped the wrist of him so strong that it had to cause pain like hell. 'My brother likes improper staginess. I ensure you that we won't cause harm to you by our existence but it would help a lot. We need a place to think, to make a plan and relax. Voldemort won't search us here.'

Everyone despite Dumbledore winced. James coughed quietly. 'How can he…he just said his name! Just like that!'

McGonnagall took her glasses and cleaned them with the sleeve of her nightgown.

'How supremely inconvenient.', she murmured. 'Outermost unusual.'

The younger brother looked Dumbledore straight into the eyes and shrugged with a light smile. 'To fear a name just increase the fear of the matter itself.'

Sirius could have been misguided but he believed to see how the eyes behind their half moon glasses widened a little bit.

The headmaster nodded, like everything important would have been said. 'I suppose, we should continue this conversation in my chambers. Minerva, would you join us, please? And Mr. Filch, I guess you need some sleep yourself, so go to bed at least ones. It cannot be healthy to push yourself so much. Think about yourself ones in a time.'

Dumbledore looked to the cupboard and blinked, before he turned. McGonnagall and the two dissimilar brothers followed.

Sirius and James looked at each other but kept silent till they believed themselves alone again and got out of the cupboard. They tapped the dust on their clothes. They needed a long time. No one wanted to say anything.

At least, Sirius plucked up his courage. 'D'you believe them brothers?'

James grimaced. 'No. They look very close but brothers…you did see him, did you?' He looked at Sirius like he would doubt already what he had seen. 'He looked like…'

'Yepp. A damned lot like you. And the other one has to be a descendant of Slytherin himself. Fascinating how that slytherin aura is radiating around him. If these two were really brothers one of your ancestors had a damned lot to explain, my friend.'

James ignored him and sighed instead. 'I really hope they are lying, even though I do not know what to think about them. That will solve itself, if Dumbledore let them stay, don't you think?' He looked at the sky behind the windows. 'It's to late to visit Moony.'

'Yea. Would have been difficult without Peter anyway.' Sirius scratched his head. He supposed Lupin would forgive them as soon as they told him 'bout this night. It was the kind of riddle he loved to decode.

James probably had the same thought for he started to grin. 'What d'ya think: Do we have to tell him about the invisible cloak now?'

Sirius made a gesture, signaling his eternal silence and they paced away, grinning.

The pacing was at an end as soon as Filch got his hands on them. The caretaker grinned malicious and grabbed them by the scruffs of their necks. 'Sleep is something for the ones believing in some decency left in you insolent brats.'

****************************Bonds of blood*************************

'That's quite an interesting scar you have there, Mr. Eve.' Dumbledore pointed to Harry's forehead and sat down behind his desk. McGonnagall stood straight beside him, arms crossed behind her back, like a general. The nightgown got the appearance of an uniform.

'Oh, no Sir.' Harry smiled and touched his forehead. 'Your own one I think much more interesting.' Silence answered him so he continued: ' The one on your knee, Sir. The map of the London tube. In contrast to something as useful as a roughly lightening like thing, I suppose your one very beneficial. If you used the muggle transport system is what I mean.'

Malfoy, who sat beside him, rolled his eyes. 'My brother loves using his pieces of information exactly than when he can seem all knowing and get the attention away from his person.'

'Pieces of information you gave him?', McGonnagall presumed. She looked at Harry's arms like she could see the dark mark through his clothes if she just tried hard enough.

Malfoy shrugged. 'Part of. He never made it to the death eaters. Got out of line way to much. Lots of stupid gryffindorness and just a tiny bit of slytherin. He never got any feeling for tradition.'

'Gryffindor?', Dumbledore asked and looked at Dracos mark which had been made visible again. 'You're sure about you two being brothers?'

'Like he has said: I got out of line a little bit.' Harry tried a smile. She wanted to strangle Draco but he knew the other one wanted the same. If they just had never gotten into such a state of things… 'Nevertheless: Blood remains blood. I knew that Draco wouldn't stick with the death eaters for long, tradition or not and so I got him out. Has been much easier than I thought, now that we are here, where we can hide till we are prepared to go.'

McGonagall snorted. 'And I suppose you will give us knowing for this detection.'

'No.' Draco looked at the ceiling. 'Sadly I have to admit that I never achieved a position were I would have had access to any knowing you would have any interest in.'

'And what is it then, that you are offering? Do not believe, that we are an asylum for run away death eaters.'

Now Harry smiled. 'Oh, that has never crossed our mind. I thought we could work. I assume you are in need of a Dada teacher?'

'Indeed. Like every year, to be frank.' Dumbledore took of his glasses to massage the point between his eyes. 'And of a poison master. Prof. McUrban has left us for a sabbatical very unexpected. Yesterday.' He looked at them like when they had been pupils. Better: Like he would be looking at them if they were still pupils. 'I suppose, you two got nothing to do with that, right? I am just asking because of the coincidence.'

They shaked their heads. Harry thought about the former night, how they had crawled into McUrbans dreams. It had been a technic very similar to occlumentic and he had to admit that Draco beat him without effort.

'We just got a good timing.' Draco smiled and raised his arms to show helplessness. 'But I suppose that you will be glad 'bout it. Your former teachers can not have been as good as us.'

McGonnagall sniffed at that. 'You're very boastful for a death eater on the run.'

'No, I'm just honest.'

Harry looked at him shortly and then turned his gaze to the window and the night. His thoughts wondered far away. 'We learnt of the best, you could say.'

He could fell Draco's gaze on his skin but didn't move.

Time went by, awkward time until Dumbledore ended the silence

'Well', he said with an nearly inaudible sigh, 'we do not really have any other choice. We shall try it, but I'll have the ghost keeping an eye on you and your first lessons, so we can check on your qualifications.'

'And do not turn the pupils into ferrets or show them the forbidden curses.'

Now Harry turned and glared at Draco. He grinned back and seemed very comfortable. There was no chance to tell if he blamed himself for endanger their camouflage if you could name it so.

'One should think you wouldn't be so happy memorizing that. But, yeah, you have been such a sweetheart as a ferret. It was fun to see you bouncing up and down, hitting your head against ceiling and floor. We should repeat that, shouldn't we?'

McGonnagall started to say something but was interrupted by the crystal ball on Dumbledore's desk.

'Headmaster, Sir?'

Hearing Filch's voice, Harry and Draco looked at each other. 'Memories, oh sweet memories.' Harry wished he could say the words but Draco seemed to understand nevertheless, for he nodded and grinned.

'Headmaster, Sir, I got two roamers down here, who have been in the entrance hall. I think they spied on you and the … the guests.'

Dumbledore sighed. It had to be a tough night even for him. McGonnagall closed her eyes. 'Do they happen to be Black and Potter?', she asked, sounding like she would be sighing too.

'Yes, Ma'am.'

Dumbledore thought for a short time. 'Get them upstairs.'

'Yessir.'

One could hear the snapping and creaking of the walls when they opened and the caretaker took the stairs.

Harry sat there stark and stiff. He couldn't move, couldn't turn around for his live and see the both of the, He couldn't meet them. Of course he had to sometime that was one of the millions of reasons why he happened to be here, but not now! Not yet! He wasn't ready not by far.

'Prof. Dumbledore, Sir.'

He knew this voice. Harry closed his eyes. No. To much, way to much, that was more than he could bear.

Draco laid his arm around his shoulders. Oh, how he did loathe him!

'Look, kid.', he whispered into his ear, as loud as was needed for let everyone hear what he was saying. He used that silken voice which meant that he enjoyed the situation, enjoyed it to the full. Slytherin. 'That is really, really interesting.'

Harry opened his eyes. And was face to face with his father.

He was being pushed even stronger to Dracos side. The blond smirked. 'I assume him to be the Potter you referred to earlier?' Then he looked at Sirius and patted him on the back. 'And a Black. A Black roaming with a Gryffindor…another one gotten out of the row.' He turned to Dumbledore. 'Am I right, that this image of my little bro' has been sorted to Gryffindor?'

'I'm Gryffindor, yes.' James turned his eyes away from Harry. 'And what you define as out of the row, I call a quantum leap. An evidence for the existence of fates irony, it is that there are good people among families which have nothing better to do with there time then throwing themselves at the feet of the dark lord.'

'A quantum leap is very little.' Malfoy shrugged his shoulders, completely at ease. 'To use muggle words and then let one be corrected by me out of all people would give me something to think about. Just my personal opinion.'

Dumbledore elevated his hand, before James or Sirius could react and put his glasses back on his nose. 'Mr. Black, Mr. Potter you are lucky that the punishment for your doing tonight is that meek. I want you to show your new Professors their quarters - the one of Professor McUrban and the one in the Southtower. Below you will answer all their question, should they want to ask some. Mr. Eve, Mr. Eve, you will be came for by a house elf tomorrow and being led to your classrooms. The schedules and everything else will be discussed at a proper hour of the day.'

'As you wish, Sir.' Harry stood up immediately and bowed. He couldn't made himself looking at his father, far less at Sirius. As a matter of fact, the confrontation with his dad was the less painful by far. He never really knew him but Sirius…Lord, it was like he just stepped out of his grave, just younger.

The roamers bowed too. Just Draco only nodded and then got slowly up. 'Wonderful idea except for one issue.'

He didn't seem to notice Harry's look so he took his arm. 'Let's just get it done.', he thought pleadingly. 'Let ME get it done so I can recollect myself and prepare.'

Draco didn't show any reaction. Slytherin.

'Still wishes, Mr. Eve?' McGonnagall snorted. It wasn't hard to tell, this night wore her and Harry didn't want to change with the pupils she would teach the other day. Far less he wanted to be Peeves should he happen to choose this night to take a chance on her again. 'What is it? Could it be that you liked a room with a more proper look? Do you think the dungeons to cool?'

'Indeed I suppose I shall feel quite at home in the dungeons but that has never been my problem. My brother and I, we just whish to have the same chambers, no matter which ones. But thanks for being so caring, Professor.'

Harry let go of Draco's arm. The blond one started to massage it. Ah, yes…how could he forgot about that? Perhaps it would be the best to let the blond be the thinking and talking part. At least for this evening.

'Shared accommodation?'

James and Sirius looked at each other. It wasn't an easy task to guess what was going on inside their head but they frowned.

McGonnagall wrinkled her nose. 'Excuse me, but you don't seem to be the kind of siblings who cannot live without each other, Mr. Eve.'

'Oh, that is totally wrong, Ma'am.' Harry smiled now. His gallows humour, which he hoped to be noticed just by Malfoy, deflected him of their situation. 'We are bonded by blood and could never leave each other without dying of aspiration.'

The frowning grew and McGonnagall started to say something but Harry waved aside and then he let them see all the resignation which rumored inside him. He hated this situation and that was exactly what he had show them at this moment. 'Well, and I do not want to leave Draco alone for a longer period. It worries me…do you understand that?'

Now the faces of MacGonnagall and Dumbledore changed. Just for a moment they both blinked at the arm of Malfoy without seeing anything at all. Harry knew what they were thinking about. There are always people which someone has lost to the dark lord, to his promises and his dark charisma. People, which were stolen by Tom Riddle the one way or the other.

'That goes without saying.', answered McGonagall at least and then turned her back on them.

*************************Bonds of blood********************************+

James kept silent while he and Sirius walked through the lodes of the sleeping castle, showing the new professors the way. It was difficult to call them this was, even just in thoughts.

The one, who looked like him, didn't look him in the eyes when it was avoidable and even the deatheater had got silent. It was awkward and James was relieved every time, Sirius warned the two because of moving stairs or living arms.

The two of them nodded always – James could see it form the corner of his eyes – but didn't seem to need the advices. In this castle where nothing stayed ever the same they moved as easily as the two roamers.

He knew that Sirius thought about Moony who was alone in the Howling Hut, fighting his deamons, but he couldn't made himself regret having given the coat to Lilly. It was good, really goof, that had seen this Slytherin-Potter alone first instead of meeting him tomorrow the first time when all the other ones would be around. He had to think about it. He had to digest it.

They took the stairs in the Southtower and got to a painting of a sleeping dragon. It was one of the great, black ones. James had never been good at 'Care of magical creatures'.

'You have to talk with the dragon 'bout a password. The former headmasters out of Prof. Dumbledores chamber will have told him 'bout you already.'

The two Eves nodded and then looked at each other. They looked tired, worn out. The one, who looked like James, went to the painting and started waking up the dragon. Before the blond had a chance to follow him, Sirius took him by his sleeve. James stared at him, stunned, while Eve just seemed to bit a little surprised.

'Pardon?'

'Professor, why is it, you are not with the death eaters any more?' Sirius looked him straight into the eyes like he always did.

Eve smiled. His brother looked back at them, seeming alarmed.

'What has it been that ensured your brother you wouldn't stay for long?'

'You're not talking about any kind of membership at a club. I didn't stop sailing or anything like that.' The man grimaced. It could have been a smile with every other person but now it was just something really cold, something that showed you that this guy didn't belong to good ones completely.

'You want to know whether I couldn't stand it, seeing all these people suffer and die, to torture and kill them. That's it, isn't it? Well, I have to tell you that these are things which no one likes – except for himself and some others. But you get used to it real soon. No, the reason why I got out is that I cannot stand it to be told what to do. I am to much the dominant type, got it?'

Sirius nodded and Eve turned around again, facing his brother. 'Could it be that that hadn't been the answer he was hoping for?' He left and disappeared through the hole behind the picture.

James Doppelganger looked at them now. Especially Sirius he faced a long time. There was a pain in his eyes which troubled James for he could not explain it but it hit him in his own very heart. These eyes…now he recognized them. He now knew of whom they remembered him and why the seemed to be false and foreign in his face.

'You asked because of Bellatrix.', Eve stated.

A shake of the head. 'Not just because of her, but yes.'

Silence. And then there was a whisper: 'Mr. Black, there is no hope left for her.'

Then he turned and the painting shot in place behind him.

****************************************Bond of blood*******************

'Headmaster…'

'I know, Minerva, I know.'

'These Eves…they have never visited this school.'

'No. They have not.'

'We would know that.'

'Yes, we would.'

'Professor…why were they talking about Gryffindor and Slytherin and not about the houses of a different school?'

'That is one of the things, which will occupy us the next days. Tea?'

**********************Bond of blood****************************++

Harry looked at Draco who laid on the much to short, red couch, eyes closed. His legs were hanging down the back and weaved anxiously.

'Malfoy, you never got used to the murdering and torturing. And have you never killed anyone.'

'No, I haven't but just because you killed the Dark Lord way to soon. I would have, if you hadn't been in such a hurry.'

A smile stole itself on Harry's face. It was a sad an exhausted but a true one and it enlightened the stormy clouds, pacing back and forth in his belly. 'That's something I don't believe, Malfoy.'

Draco opened his eyes and looked at him. They both thought of the same thing, they knew it. They had the moment in mind, when Draco should kill Dumbledore but had been unable to do so.

After a long silence the blond straightened himself, groaning. He produced a knife out of his pocket and gave it to Harry. 'Try to wake me before you do it, if you happen to do it. One time is often enough, to wake up noticing you standing above me with a knife.'

Harry took the knife and followed him to the sleeping room. 'Should it be necessary tonight, I'll try to stack you lying. I'm much to exhausted for conjure up a second bed.'

******************************end of chapter one**********************

So that has it been for now. I expect you noticed that I am not a native speaker. ^^' This is a translation of my story 'Blutbande'. I hope you review nevertheless and you would make me dancing up and down the house if there happened to be someone who volunteered as a beta-reader who would check on my grammar and vocabulary. I think I got a lot of names wrong. It weren't the howling hut and the lashing willow, were it? And I think there was a different word for Roamers. Well. Help me and tell me what you think.


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